Prevention and Population Sciences Program

The Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch supports, designs, and conducts research and supports training on behavioral, environmental, clinical, and healthcare approaches to reduce occurrence and consequences of cardiovascular diseases. Prevention research examines effects of interventions to slow or halt risk factor or disease development or progression; interventions use high-risk individual and population approaches, including medications, behavioral strategies, and environmental change. Studies examine lifestyle, nutrition and exercise, psychological and sociocultural factors, and environmental and genetic influences relevant to prevention. Clinical application research examines approaches to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. Studies include clinical and community trials and selected observational studies. View funding information for the Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch.

The Epidemiology Branch supports, designs, and conducts research and supports training in the epidemiology of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders. Studies are conducted to identify temporal trends and population patterns in the prevalence, incidence, morbidity, and mortality from these diseases and include single- and multi-center observational epidemiology studies of the development, progression, and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders. Studies identify environmental, lifestyle, physiological, and genetic risk factors for disease and risk factor development, including characterization of gene/gene and gene/environment interactions. The Branch also distributes phenotypic data from all eligible NHLBI studies to researchers as a national data resource, adhering to guidelines that protect participant privacy and confidentiality. View funding information for the Epidemiology Branch.